


Darwin the cat

by Corvicula1979



Series: Always in My Head 'Verse [4]
Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Azazel is actually a soft touch, M/M, Post X-Men: First Class, how charles' telepathy works, telepathy and animals, the First Class gang get a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 09:25:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3645180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvicula1979/pseuds/Corvicula1979
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of First Class, after Charles gets home from hospital, everyone's living at the mansion and they decide the household needs a pet.</p><p>[Teen and not Gen because of implied sexual relationship.]</p><p>Not my characters, etc, blah blah, except for the cat. He is. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Darwin the cat

            Almost as soon as it became evident they'd all the staying at the mansion for the foreseeable future, there'd been talk of getting a pet, even before Charles returned home. Alex had been the one to ask him, only days after he got back.

            “Why are you asking me?”

            Alex gave him an 'are-you-kidding-me' sort of look. “Because it's your house.”

            “No, it's like I said when we first came here. It's _our_ house.”

            So they had a House Meeting. Charles and Erik were indifferent; Hank was cautious. Sean wanted a dog, Azazel agreed, and Janos asked his old companion, “And are _you_ going to take him out for walks?” because, they'd all learned, Azazel never walked a hundred yards when he could teleport. Raven said she'd rather have a cat and everyone had agreed that not having to search for dog poop all over the mansion's expansive grounds would be a blessing. Alex was fine with either, he said.

            Alex went to the local shelter and came home with a black short-haired tom (well, ex-tom) with an amiable disposition and named him Darwin after their fallen friend.

 

            In theory, Darwin 'belonged to' Alex, but in the perverse way of cats, he decided for himself who his favourite people were and Alex seemed to be only of mild interest to him. He did turn out to be well named, though, adapting with no trouble to the odd and varied inhabitants of the mansion. Hank, despite most likely registering to a cat as a very much larger predator, didn't perturb him, although he seemed wary of Raven. And Azazel's constant disappearing and reappearing didn't faze him at all after the first few times. In fact, he came to learn that if he was lost or trapped in an unfamiliar part of the house, he needed only to meow piteously to summon his large red friend, who would obligingly teleport him back to more familiar territory.

 

            And Charles was very definitely one of his favourite people. One evening when he and Erik were playing chess, Darwin came in and, bold as you please, jumped onto Charles' lap and curled up to nap.

            “Hello there, Darwin,” he greeted the cat. The benefits of a warm, purring cat on his lap may have been largely lost on him, but he could appreciate his soft coat and that the cat enjoyed being stroked.

            “I always wondered,” Erik said, “Do you ... feel them?”

            “Telepathically, you mean?” Erik nodded. “Animals in general, or cats in particular?”

            “Both, really.”

            “Depends on the animal, really, and how complex their brain functions are. Insects, reptiles, fish, most birds ... no. Some of the larger, cleverer birds, a little bit. Many of the larger mammals, yes. Something like a cat or dog ... they do think, after a fashion, but it's different from how we do. They do have emotional lives, of course, and that is not so dissimilar from us.”

            “So do you know what's going on in our little friend's head?”

            “Just at the moment, pretty much what you'd expect. He's comfortable and content and likes that I'm petting him.”

            “Did you notice how he's got Azazel transporting him around the place?”

            Charles chuckled. “Yes, he really has him wrapped around his little finger, doesn't he? Or ... whatever.”

            “I do wonder why he likes who he likes,” Erik pondered.

            “Well, I gather he's wary of Raven because she confuses him.”

            “Because she changes shape?”

            “And apparently she smells different in different forms. If she stuck with one, he'd probably be fine, even her natural one.”

            “Yeah, appearances don't seem to bother him. He certainly isn't alarmed by Azazel or Hank.”

            “And he likes Hank because ... I'm not sure it even translates right into human terms ... he smells more right to him? More like one of his kind?”

            Erik laughed. “So he thinks, what, Hank is like a giant blue cat?” Erik found this uproariously funny.

            “Don't you _dare_ say that to him, Erik.”

            Erik struggled to rein in his mirth. “Any idea why he's so taken with you?”

            “No. That, it seems, will remain one of life's feline mysteries. But you?” Charles dropped his voice, to be deliberately seductive. “He likes you because you always smell like me.”  


End file.
